17th Day of Christmas
by kuragari nikkou
Summary: Part of my Days of Christmas project. Ganondorf was defeated. Hyrule could celebrate happily. All was right with the world. Warnings: Redeads. Stalchilds. Horror.


All characters © their respective owners

-DEADSILENTNIGHT.

Akuma: -grumbles- On the seventeenth day of Christmas my true love wrote for me.

Warnings: Redeads. Stalchilds. Horror.

-HOLYNIGHT.

Ganondorf was defeated. Hyrule could celebrate happily. All was right with the world.

Link was back in his ten year old body the way it was supposed to be. He had stopped in the Hyrule marketplace for the holidays. The whole place had been decorated for the celebration, lines and lines of colorful paper hanging from the roofs of the buildings that surrounded the big fir tree centerpiece. Of course, the real reason he had stopped wasn't because of the holidays, but because of the sales that came with it. He hadn't hacked away at bushes to get those measly green rupees only to not have enough to buy all his travel provisions, after all.

Dancing, singing, talking. The people of the market were alive with the joy this day brought. They had no idea that Link was the one responsible for their ability to feel safe and be happy, but he was fine with that. Maybe it was the infectiously warm atmosphere, but Link decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to test his luck and try to get more rupees from the games in the marketplace.

Time passed and Link racked up some fairly high scores in those games, netting a cool two hundred and fifty rupees at the end of it. It was more than what he needed, but he was sure he could find something else he'd need. Going through the town, he stocked up on bombs, slingshot ammo, potions, and the other necessary provisions he'd need for getting to the next town.

"Excuse me?" a quiet voice asked. Link turned to see a girl about Zelda's age. She had big blue eyes and wore a white and orange dress with yellow gloves and white boots. "I couldn't help but notice that you're carrying an awful lot of supplies. Are you going anywhere soon?"

"To the next town." He replied shortly.

"Do you have to leave so soon? It's getting dark, after all. The stalchilds will go after you!" She warned, raising a yellow gloved hand.

How did this little girl think Link got to this town? Stalchilds weren't a problem for him, but the boy nodded to her warning nonetheless.

"You could stay at my family's inn for tonight." She suggested, her white and orange dress swaying a little. "It'd be better than being chased by those spooky monsters! And we have a big holiday discount too."

It had been a while since Link had last slept in a bed. The thought of a warm bed and a peaceful night was infinitely more appealing compared to tenacious skeletons and a cold night of running and slashing. He found himself agreeing before he even realized it.

"Great!" She clapped her yellow gloved hands together as she closed those big blue eyes. "C'mon, I'll lead the way." She said as she grabbed his hand and led him to the inn.

-:-X-:-X-:-

It was a fairly modest inn, clean and welcoming despite the fact that only three people tended to it. He gave the girl a blue rupee and sat on the single bed in the room he paid for. He lay down and thought about his adventures. Saria, Navi, Malon, Epona, Ruto, Zelda…those creepy naked fairy ladies… He turned on his side and fell asleep.

-:-X-:-X-:-

Screaming. Link startled awake at the sound as he practically jumped out of bed and ran to the window. That telltale groaning, those shriveled bodies walking so slowly it was appropriate to say they were crawling while upright, that pounding on the doors from those decaying hands…

"Redeads!" the hero of time realized. No time to use the door, he jumped out of the window with his sword overhead to slice one of the redeads cleanly from above. It wouldn't be enough to kill it, so he pulled out the ocarina Zelda gave him and played the song that would paralyze them. The redeads that heard the song surrounding him turned pale and became motionless, but the ones that were further away continued to pound on the doors of the frightened residents.

He pulled out a bomb from his pack and threw it at the redeads that were further away before turning his attention to the one he had injured and paralyzed. As usual, he managed to destroy it after wildly slashing at its back, the body hitting the floor and lingering before it evaporated.

"Over there!" a voice declared.

"Protect the citizens, and don't let them invade the castle!" another voice commanded. Link played the sun song again to paralyze the redeads around him when the effects wore off and went to join the knights that came from the castle.

A scream ripped through the air. The knights were shocked motionless as the redeads slowly trudged up to them. Link played the song again while running, the knights regaining their senses once the monsters turned pale. He jumped in to repeatedly slash at one of the redeads' back.

"Sir, isn't that just a child?" one of the knights asked concernedly as he stabbed one of the redeads in the back with his lance multiple times.

"We can't worry about that right now." The knights' leader explained as he too cut into one of the redeads in the back with his lance many times. "Eradicate the monsters and protect the people!" he rallied them.

-:-X-:-X-:-

This wasn't right. The marketplace had a gate. How did all these redeads break through? Where did they even come from? Weren't most of them supposed to be buried under the well that Link had sealed in Kakariko?

A scream, no _screams,_ tore through the night as the redeads were finally able to destroy the doors of the residents' homes. Link was out of breath as he ran through the marketplace and played the song yet again, paralyzing all the monsters that could hear it. He tripped and fell on the last note, Zelda's ocarina clattering against the floor. His eyes lit up in recognition when he saw a pair of white boots walk towards it.

"…xcu…e?" the owner of the boots rasped. Link raised a brow at that and looked up to see a white and orange dress with yellow gloves. He gasped.

"No…" He stood up and shook his head slowly. That was impossible.

"…e?" the girl was missing her big blue eyes, her body was a skeleton. Even so, a tear seemed to fall from the now empty socket before an inhuman glow occupied it. "A…hahaha…hahahahaha!" She threw her head back and laughed as more tears fell from her dead glowing eyes. The girl…no, she was a stalchild. She couldn't be saved. Link unsheathed his sword.

Screams were heard, both a redead and a human's. Stalchildren laughed as their bones clattered against the floor. The lines of colorful paper fluttered, but were otherwise undisturbed. The big fir tree centerpiece too was untouched as it towered over the slaughter that took place. Still more redeads walked slowly into the marketplace. The sun song was played over and over until the hero's lungs gave out. No music. Only screams and laughter.

Ganondorf was defeated. Hyrule could celebrate happily. All was right with the world.

-ALLISHOPELESSGIVEUPTHEFIGHT.

Akuma: I'm clearly running out of ideas for horror here…and relevant holiday morals. I haven't played LoZ:OoT, so I don't really know how stalchilds became stalchilds and just assumed that it was what happened when kids died and didn't have a pink fairy to revive them. I probably should've used Kakariko, huh? But then there'd be no question where the redeads came from if it was Kakariko. Hyrule made for a better mystery.

Holiday moral: The undead don't celebrate Christmas. Worst moral ever.


End file.
